Acquisition
Note:This
collection was given to the University of Iowa Libraries on September
10, 1997, by Mary K. Calkin.

This collection was separated
from a larger collection of personal papers, now MsC
504.

Access
and Restrictions:

This
collection is open for research.

Digital Surrogates: Except where indicated, this document describes but
does not reproduce the actual text, images and objects which make up this
collection. Materials are available only in the Special Collections
Department.

Use of Collections: The University
of Iowa Libraries supports access to the materials, published and unpublished,
in its collections. Nonetheless, access to some items may be restricted by
their fragile condition or by contractual agreement with donors, and it may
not be possible at all times to provide appropriate machinery for reading,
viewing or accessing non-paper-based materials. Please read our Use
of Manuscripts Statement.

Biographical
Note

Homer Leonard Calkin
was born on May 5, 1912, in Clearfield, Iowa. He attended Simpson College
for two years (1931 -- 1933) before transferring to the University of Iowa.
He finished his education at Iowa, earning a B.A. in history in 1935 and
later both an M.A. (1936) and a Ph.D. (1939) in British history. On July 2, 1938, Homer
Calkin married Corrine Reynolds (who died July 9, 1969). He was
married Mary Katherine Ferriss in 1971..

During World War
II, Calkin served as a military intelligence officer with the War Department
General Staff in Washington, D.C. After the war he worked for the National
Archives and Records Service. His career in the State Department began in
1950, when he was hired as chief of the records management staff. Over
the next 27 years he held a number of positions within
the department, was a member of the planning staff for the
State Department building, served as a management analyst, and
was deputy director of the research and reference division of the State
Department historian's office when he retired in 1977. After his official
retirement, Calkin continued to work as a consultant preparing histories
of women and minorities in the Department of State and the Foreign Service.

Calkin published
more than fifty articles, numerous book reviews, several hundred abstracts
of historical articles, and compiled catalogues of Methodist Church archives.
He wrote two books, Women in American Foreign Affairs and Castings
from the Foundry Mold, and contributed chapters to Those Incredible
Methodists. Calkin
has been published in the United States, France, and Ireland.

Homer Calkin was
active in a number of organizations, most of which were focused primarily on
history, archives, libraries, and manuscripts. He belonged to the American Historical
Association, Cosmos Club, Organization of American Historians, Society of American
Archivists, Wesley Historical Society, and the World Methodist Historical Society.
Calkin kept close ties to the University of Iowa. He was a member of the President's
Club and served on the board of the Friends of the University of Iowa Libraries.
In 1984, he was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award. He was also very active
in the United Methodist Church, on the local, national and international fronts.
His book, Castings from the Foundry Mold, illustrates the 150 year history
of the Foundry Church and still serves as a model for historical church writing.

Homer L. Calkin died
on June 5, 1995, of a heart attack at his home in Arlington, Virginia. He was
eighty three years old.

Scope
and Contents

The Homer L. Calkin
collection of printed ephemera consists of two boxes containing 524 items
that date from approximately 1880 -- 1896. There
are advertising and trade cards, spelling cards, calling cards and invitations,
as well as paper dolls, and cut-outs of such things as flowers and fruit.
The cards that make up this collection are arranged alphabetically by company
and/or by the subject of the artwork. Some of the companies and/or products
represented include Arm & Hammer,
the Singer Manufacturing Company, and the Woolsen Spice Company. The cards
arranged by artwork include the following categories: animals,
birds, children, houses, ships, flowers, fruit, and paper dolls.